Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Game 156: Fines and lineups

Confused would be a good way to describe the Blue Jays on Monday afternoon. Shaun Marcum was confused as to why he was hit with a $750 fine and Jose Bautista remained perplexed over why he seemed to have a target on his back.

Marcum’s fine from Major League Baseball stemmed from “hitting” Orioles DH Luke Scott with a pitch in the fourth inning of Sunday’s 5-2 win. Marcum grazed Scott with the first pitch of the frame — after Bautista had been hit by Baltimore righty Rick VandenHurk a half-inning earlier.

“Warnings weren’t even out,” Marcum said on Monday. “To hit somebody like that and get fined, I think it’s bad judgment on their part. I have good enough control that if I’m going to hit somebody I’ll hit them right in the middle of the back.”

Bautista also thought it was odd that Marcum faced a fine — one that the pitcher said he will definitely appeal.

“That’s kind of strange,” Bautista said.

Also strange to the Jays? The fact that the Orioles brought Alfredo Simon — primarily used for late-inning situations — into the game in the fifth inning on Sunday. Three pitches into his confrontation with Bautista, Simon sent one way inside and hit Toronto’s slugger on the arm.

Simon and O’s manager Buck Showalter were immediately ejected from the game. On Monday, Simon was hit with a three-game suspension and Showalter a one-game suspension.

“I think everybody felt that was intentional,” said Marcum, referring to Simon hitting Bautista. “He was a seventh, eighth-inning guy throwing in the fifth. I think he came in for one reason and one reason only. Like I said, I guess that’s how they want to do things over there.”

After the game, Simon noted that he was friends with Bautista. The Jays right fielder echoed that on Monday.

“That’s why I think he was just following orders,” Bautista said.

Bautista said the suspensions did not necessarily bring him any satisfaction.

“They were going to get what they deserved regardless,” he said with a shrug. “I think they knew what they were doing. The second time I got hit it was pretty obvious. I don’t care what their comments were after the game. I did read them. I don’t believe what they said.”

Those would be the postgame comments claiming that hitting Bautista was unintended.

If it was on purpose, Bautista was confused over Baltimore’s reasoning.

“I just don’t know what the message is,” he said. “What message can they be sending?”

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